Imagination and Creativity
Imaginación y Creatividad
by
Mary Hunt Webb
Posted Saturday, September 30, 2023
My mother found that providing paper dolls for me to cut out was a thrifty way to keep me busy while she cooked and cleaned. That activity built my fine motor skills. [Source: tipjunkie.com.]
As a child, I enjoyed cutting out paper dolls. Although it wasn't easy to carefully cut out the printed clothes that came with them, I thought the activity was fun, I didn't understand that using scissors to cut paper around curves was building my fine motor skills. As I carefully folded the tabs of each article of clothing over the shoulders of the paper doll, I didn't realize that I was learning the skills of coordination, imagination and creativity.
As I grew up, I later acquired additional skills in needlework, painting, and other crafts through school, scouts, and Vacation Bible School. When I learned to sew, I also learned to plan and to measure, just as boys learned those skills in shop and woodworking classes. The imagination and creativity that I developed in those early years have served me well as a teacher and writer. The time that my classmates and I spent learning crafts was not wasted.
Although I haven't spent much time working with clay since my youth, I still admire the imaginative and creative process that the Bible describes in Jeremiah 18:1-4: "1) This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2) "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." 3) So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4) But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him." (NIV)
I envision the potter sitting at his wheel and focusing on the clay in front of him. When he sees an imperfection, he reshapes it, working steadily with his hands to create andssomething useful as well as beautiful.
In the same way that the potter works carefully and skillfully to create a pot or vase, God focuses on creating us to be the most useful beings we can be. [Photographer: Satchuset. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com.]
In a similar manner, we are all the result of God's imagination and creativity. As He works to create us, God focuses on us. He is aware of our possibilities and our imperfections while He keeps our future and our purpose in mind. He shapes us to make us the most useful beings that we can be. As the result of His effort, we reflect His care and planning.
That is the picture behind Isaiah 64:8, which says, "Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." (NIV)
Even if we feel like failures, we must always remember that we are the work of God's creative hands. He knows what the future holds and understands the skills we will need.
Prayer: Lord, thank You for giving me a mind, hands and motor skills to use creatively for the furtherance of Your kingdom. In the name of Jesus, amen.
BIBLE VERSES USED IN THIS POSTING
Jeremiah 18:1-4 — 1) This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2) "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." 3) So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4) But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. (NIV)
Jeremías 18:1-4 — 1) Palabra de Jehová que vino a Jeremías, diciendo: 2) Levántate y vete a casa del alfarero, y allí te haré oír mis palabras. 3) Y descendí a casa del alfarero, y he aquí que él trabajaba sobre la rueda. 4) Y la vasija de barro que él hacía se echó a perder en su mano; y volvió y la hizo otra vasija, según le pareció mejor hacerla. (Reina-Valera 1960)
Isaiah 64:8 — Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. (NIV)
Isaías 64:8 — Ahora pues, Jehová, tú eres nuestro padre; nosotros barro, y tú el que nos formaste; así que obra de tus manos somos todos nosotros. (Reina-Valera 1960)
In order to become the beautiful creations that God intended, we must endure the heat and the trials of the process. [Photographer: Blas Iyer. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com.]
